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SHOE FASTENING. No. 355,955. Patented Jan. 11,1887.

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G. VALIANT.

SHOE FASTENING.

No. 355,955. Patented. Jan. 11, 1887.

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and cover the stocking.

NITE STATES GEORGE VALIANT, OF TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA.

SHOE-=FASTENING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 355,955, dated January11, 1887.

Application filed April 1, 1886. Serial No. 197,462. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

' Be it known that I, GEORGE VALIANT, of Toronto, in the county of York,and in the Province of Ontario, Canada, have invented certain new anduseful Improvement in Boots and Shoes; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 shows a Viewof my improved shoe in side elevation; Fig. 2, a view of the same,in

front elevation,laced up; Fig. 3, a similar view of the shoe unlaced,and Fig. 4 a detail View of a portion of a butt0n-boot made inaccordance with my invention.

Letters of like name and kind refer to like parts in each of thefigures.

The object of my invention is to provide an improvement in shoes orboots; and to this end my invention consists-in the shoe and in theparts thereof,constructed, arranged, and combined, as hereinafterspecified.

In buttonshoes as heretofore made and in the market, if the shoe doesnot fit over thein step and across the front of the foot and ankle andthe buttons are moved either forward or back to make it fit, the frontseam is thrown out of line or to one side or the other of the centralline up the instep, and the shoe is consequently made unsymmetrical andoften un' s'ightly.

In lace-shoes as heretofore made, where it is not permanently fastenedto the edges of the quarter, the tongue, not being attached at all toeither edge of the quarter, or being attached only to one edgethereof,is apt to work or get out of place, so as to show the stockingof the wearer at one side of the space between the two quarter edges inan unsightly manner. When such lace-shoes do not fit the foot of thewearer properly across the instep, the edges of the quarter have toeither be brought so closely together as to make the front of theshoe,when laced up, quite stiff and uncomfortable, or are so wide apartthat the tongue cannot properly and surely close the entire spacebetween them To avoid these objections to the shoes or boots asheretofore made, I have invented the shoe, as shown in the drawings, andset forth in the specification hereinafter, which can be nicely adjustedor fitted to the foot of the wearerwithout throwing the central frontseam out of line orits proper position, and when laced up tight willstill be flexible and easy across the instep and front of the foot andankle.

In the drawings, in which I show a laced shoe embodying or made inaccordance With my invention, A designates the vamp of the shoe, B thequarter of thesame, and O the tongue, attached at its lower end to thevamp and extending upward between the edges of the quarter. Instead ofhaving the edges of the quarter close together at their lower ends, asin lace-shoes as heretofore made, I so cut the quarter that its edges attheir lower portions are quite wide apart. The tongue 0, being madecorrespondingly broad,is so situated that as the quarter edges are drawntogether they will overlap it at each side. Along each of the quarteredges I fasten a series of lacinghooks, b b, of any desired kind and wayor manner of fastening. On the front of the tongue I also fasten the twoseries of corresponding lacing-hooks, o 0, near the opposite sides ofthe tongue. Such series of hooks extend from the lower and outer cornersof the tongue upward, converging toward each other to correspond withthe convergence of the quarter edges when they are drawn togetherbylacing the shoe. With this construction the edges of the boot-quarterare never drawn to gether over the instep, but the portion of the tonguebetween them covers such part of the foot,leaving the shoe there quiteflexible and easy.

I prefer to make the tongue with the central seam, 0, extending up itsentire length, but do not limit myself to such construction.

The converging rows or series of lacinghooks c c are not continued up,so as to meet at their upper ends, but are stopped at such a point thatthere is some space between them and the seam c on each side.

The lacing-string D is preferably made in one piece and passed throughthe eyelet-holes d d below the lower lacinghooks in the series I) b onthe quarter edges. 'In lacing up the shoe the portions of thislacing-string on opposite sides of the shoe are, as shown best in Fig.2, passed inward around the lowest lacinghooks, c c, on the tongue, thenoutward around the lowest hooks in the series on the quarter edges, andso on in and outaround hooks c and 1) until the ends of the series ofhooks on the tongue have been reached. The lace ends are then carriedacross each other and around a1- ternate hooks in the series on thequarter edges in the usual way where lacing-hooks are used on boots orshoes.

My shoe or boot as constructed is flexible and easy on the foot and isreadily adjustable as to girt across the instep and ankle. However theshoe is adjusted or changed in girt,

- the girt or size across the instep and ankle can be adjusted asdesired by setting forward or back the rows of buttons on each side ofthe tongue-piece. The seam along the tonguepiece will then not be pulledto one side or out of line,as where the buttons inboots as heretoforemade are set forward or back, and the boot, however adjusted, remainssymmetrical in front.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is- 1. In a boot orshoe, in combination with the tongue'piece and the quarter edges,lacinghooks on the tongue on opposite sides of its middle line and onthe quarter edges, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

I 2. In a boot or shoe, in combination with the vamp and the quarter cutin front, substantially as described, to leave considerable spacebetween its edges across the instep, thetonguepiece fastened to the vampand extending up between the edges of the quarter, the series oflacing-hooks along such edges, and the corre-- sponding series of hooksat or near the sides of the tongue-piece, substantially as and for thepurpose described.

3. In a boot or shoe, in combination with the vamp and the quarterhaving its opposite forward or inner edges cut, substantially asdescribed, to leave a space across the instep between their lowerportions when the shoe is laced or fastened, the tongue-piece attachedto the shoe only at its lower end, and the corresponding fasteningdevices along the edges of the quarter and on each side of the tongue,substantially as and for the purpose described. In testimony that Iclaim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand this 18th day ofFebruary A. D. 1886.

GEORGE VALIANT.

\Vitnesses:

CHAS. GOODYEAR, J r., ELMER P. Howe.

